by the act of March, 1865, establishing the Freedmen's Bureau; and hereafter, as heretofore, he can employ the land and naval forces of the country to suppress insurrection and to overcome obstructions to the laws.

"I return the bill to the Senate in the earnest hope that a measure involving questions and interests so important to the country will not become a law, unless upon deliberate consideration by the people it shall receive the sanction of an enlightened public judgment.

"ANDREW JOHNSON. "WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 19, 1866."

11

CHAPTER XVI.

SPEECH TO THE CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON, FEB. 22D, 1866.

ON Washington's birthday a meeting was held in Washington to indorse the action of the President in vetoing the Freedmen's Bureau Bill. All the prominent men in the city joined in it, and the crowd was immense. After the conclusion of the meeting, a committee appointed for the purpose waited upon the President to present him the resolutions, when he appeared and made the following speech to the assembled multitude:

"FELLOW-CITIZENS for I presume I have the right to address you as such-to the committee who have conducted and organized this meeting so far, I have to render my sincere thanks for the compliments and approbation they have manifested in their personal address to myself, and in the resolutions they have adopted. Fellow-citizens—I was about to tender my thanks to the committee who waited upon me and presented me with the resolutions adopted on this occasion-resolutions, as I understand, complimentary to the policy pursued by this administration since it came into power. I am free to say to you on this

occasion, that it is extremely gratifying to me to know that so large a portion of my fellow-citizens approve and indorse the policy that has been adopted, and is intended to be carried out. (Applause.) That policy has been one which was intended to restore the glorious union of these States and their original relations to the government of the United States. (Prolonged applause.) This seems to be a day peculiarly appropriate for such a manifestationthe day that gave birth to him who founded this Government the Father of his Country; of him who stood at the head of the government when all the States entered into the Union. This day, I say, is peculiarly appropriate to indorse the restoration of the Union of these States founded by the Father of his Country. Washington, whose name this city bears, is embalmed in the hearts of all who love free government. (A voice-" So is Andrew Johnson.") Washington, who, in the language of his eulogists, was “First in peace, first in war, first in the hearts of his countrymen." No people can claim him ; no nation can appropriate him; his reputation and life are the common inheritance of all who love free government.

THE PRESIDENT'S MOTTO THAT OF ANDREW JACKSON.

"Ito-day had the pleasure of attending the National Washington Monument Association, which is directing its efforts to complete the monument erected to his memory. I was glad to meet them, and, so far as I could, to give them my humble influence. A monument is being erected to him within a stone's throw of the spot from which I address you. Let it be completed. (Cheers.) Let the pledges which all these

States, associations, and corporations have placed in that monument of their faith and love for this Union be preserved. Let it be completed, and in this connection let me refer to the motto upon the stone sent from my own State. God bless (A voice—“ And bless you") a State which has struggled for the preservation of the Union, in the field and in the councils of the nation, and is now struggling in consequence of the interruption that has taken place in her relations with the Federal Government, growing out of the rebellion, but struggling to recover those relations and take her stand where she has stood since 1796. A motto is inscribed on that stone sent here to be placed in that monument of freedom and in commemoration of Washington. I stand by that sentiment, and she is willing to stand by it. It was the sentiment enunciated by the immortal Andrew Jackson, 'The Federal Union-it must be preserved.' (Wild shouts of applause.) Were it possible to have the great man whose statue is now before me, and whose portrait is behind me in the Capitol, and whose sentiment is inscribed on the stone deposited in the monument—were it possible to communicate with the illustrious dead, and he could be informed of or made to understand the working or progress of faction, rebellion, and treason, the bones of the old man would stir in their coffin, and he would rise and shake off the habiliments of the tomb; he would extend that long arm and finger of his, and he would reiterate that glorious sentiment, 'The Federal Union-it must be preserved.' (Applause.) But we see and witness what has transpired since his day. We remember what he did in 1833, when treason, treachery, and infidelity to the

Government and Constitution of the United States then stalked forth. It was his power and influence that then crushed the treason in its infancy. It was then stopped: but only for a time-the spirit continued. There were men disaffected to the Government both North and South. We had peculiar institutions, of which some complained and to which others were attached. One portion of our countrymen advocated that institution in the South; another opposed it in the North; and it resulted in creating two extremes. The one in the South reached the point at which they were prepared to dissolve the Government of the United States, to secure and preserve their peculiar institution; and in what I may say on this occasion I want to be understood."

THE REPUBLICANS AS DISUNIONISTS.

"There was another portion of our countrymen who were opposed to this peculiar institution in the South, and who went to the extreme of being willing to break up the Government to get clear of it. [Applause.] I am talking to you to-day in the common phrase, and assume to be nothing but a citizen, and one who has been fighting for the Constitution and to preserve the Government. These two parties have been arrayed against each other; and I stand before you to-day, as I did in the Senate in 1860, in the presence of those who were making war on the Constitution, and who wanted to disrupt the Government, to denounce, as I then did in my place, those who were so engaged, as traitors. I have never ceased to repeat, and so far as my efforts could go, to carry out, the sentiments I then uttered. [Cheers.] I have already remarked